Concern about "normal life": Söder puts Corona demand at the traffic light - teachers sound the alarm

Created: 12/28/2021, 3:22 PM

From: Florian Naumann

Omikron is a cause for concern: Markus Söder emphatically makes a demand to the traffic light coalition.

© Sven Hoppe / dpa

Omikron is coming - but the numbers are still moderate: Politicians are caught in a tightrope act between waiting and alarming.

Meanwhile, the medical association believes in a controllable wave.

• The corona pandemic * also occupies federal politics between the years.

• There is no shortage of sources of fire: What is needed are solutions to vaccination requirements, triage rules - and also to quarantine measures in the possible Omikron wave.

• Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) has now turned to the traffic light coalition with a request.

Berlin / Munich - Germany is still waiting for the Omikron wave - that it will come, but experts do not doubt it.

Should the new Corona variant strike violently, it could even hit the "critical infrastructure" hard: on the one hand, through illness-related failures.

And on the other hand, about quarantine rules for contact persons.

For this reason, Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder * (CSU) has once again called on the traffic light coalition to act.

But he also fears consequences for “normal life” if the rules are not adjusted.

In the meantime, the option of a general lockdown is being debated again in some places.

Corona concern: Söder makes demands on the traffic light - "Also applies to normal life"

“Of course we have to review the current quarantine rules.

With a rapidly growing epidemic, we cannot simply paralyze the whole country from one day to the next, ”Söder told

.

"This applies not only to the critical infrastructure, but also to the normal life of people." The federal government must now quickly make a proposal, demanded Söder.

Some other states have already changed the relevant rules because of Omikron.

“The extrapolations assume the worst case scenario for the Omikron variant, 700,000 new infections per day,” Union faction vice Sepp Müller (CDU)

warned

the

on Monday (December 27)

.

Shortly before Christmas, a statistician had given a figure that was a little less high, but still impressive.

The traffic light had signaled readiness to act: Müller's SPD official colleague Dagmar Schmidt said she expected the Federal Government's Expert Council to address the quarantine rules in its next report.

"On this basis we can then revise the rules," she told the paper.

"The vaccination status will then certainly also play an important role," emphasized Schmidt.

Corona in Germany: Traffic lights are fighting on many fronts - Giffey does not rule out lockdown

However, the political corona debate currently covers a large number of areas of conflict.

The dispute about a general vaccination requirement continues: Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) warned against a vaccination register as part of a vaccination requirement - the Federal Data Protection Officer Ulrich Kelber, however, believes this is quite possible.

There was further pressure on the Bundestag and traffic lights on Tuesday from the Federal Constitutional Court: Karlsruhe warned "immediately" of political rules for possible triage situations - and explicitly protection for the disabled in such a scenario.

And the word of lockdown continues to make the rounds.

In any case, Berlin's new governing mayor Franziska Giffey does not rule out a lockdown in the capital.

"Our task as a politician is to react very, very quickly to the changing situation," said the SPD politician on Tuesday after visiting an intensive care unit at the Charité in Berlin-Mitte.

"I still have the attitude that we are not yet - even after today's conversation - at the point for a lockdown," said Giffey.

"But that is a first step, because it is clear that if the situation worsens, we have to react."

Omicron wave on the way?

Teachers sound the alarm, medical association remains calm

However, there was also positive news from Giffey's appointment: The sickness rate at the Berlin Charité was very low, it said. This was also confirmed by its CEO, Heyo Kroemer. In the area of ​​care, the sickness rate is currently around seven percent, at the level of the time before the corona pandemic. "For doctors, the numbers were significantly lower," said Kroemer, quoting values ​​of three to four percent.

The German Teachers' Association wants to see schools prepared for all eventualities. "As soon as the fifth wave reaches Germany, we have to be able to react quickly," said association president Heinz-Peter Meidinger to the

. He called for quick action: You couldn't wait until the upcoming Corona summit on January 7th. Clear plans for changing lessons and emergency care are needed.

How bad the wave will be, and whether further measures will be necessary, remains the subject of discussions among doctors.

"At the moment I don't see any reason to think about a lockdown of the schools," said Klaus Reinhardt, President of the German Medical Association, also in the

.

It can be assumed that the booster campaign and the current contact restrictions will be sufficient to contain the omicron wave.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) meanwhile also has hopes for a new drug *.

) *

.